By IMOGEN GARFINKEL - SENIOR FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
A 14-year-old boy allegedly shot his headmaster and a teacher in a gun rampage in southern France on Monday.
The principal of the Joseph-Lakanal middle school in Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône, was hit in the lower body, according to BFMTV.
A 37-year-old teacher was also shot in the thigh.
A 14-year-old boy has been arrested, suspected of being the shooter.
Conflicting reports said the weapon was a 12-gauge shotgun or a hunting rifle.
According to a police source, the principal, 53, was in front of the school when he was targeted by gunshots, French newspaper Le Figaro reported.
'He fired four or five times,' the source said.
Firefighters have been dispatched to the scene.
The principal of the Joseph-Lakanal middle school in Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône, was hit in the lower body, according to BFMTV (Google Street View)
French gendarmes stand in front of Joseph-Lakanal high school after a headmaster was injured and a teenager was arrested in Aubagne, southern France, on October 12
The prime minister's office said the principal's life was not in danger and that the interior and education ministers were heading to the scene
The Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez, the Minister of National Education Édouard Geffray as well as the Minister Delegate for Vocational Education and Training and Apprenticeship Sabrina Roubache are expected to visit the site on Monday afternoon.
The principal and the teacher have been treated and their lives are not in danger, according to the prime minister's office.
Geffray said a pupil at the school was suspected of being behind the attack.
France has faced a wave of protests over the state of the country's schools, with some of the demonstrations hit by violence.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that he condemned those incidents of violence.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.